1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable storage device, and more particularly to a covering device for a contact terminal provided in a portable storage device, such as a USB.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, USBs, external hard disk drives or the like are used as a portable data storage device and widely used as an auxiliary storage device for an MP3, a computer or a portable terminal since they are compact and convenient to carry. Such a USB is equipped with a terminal connector with a contact terminal for connecting it to a computer, a notebook computer, a mobile communication terminal or the like for data transmission. However, such a USB is not separately provided with contact terminal protection elements, or is provided with a separate cover for protecting its contact terminal from an external environment.
In addition, a conventional USB is typically equipped with a separate retraction/extraction mechanism so that the contact terminal of the USB can be received in the body thereof or can be extracted therefrom. That is, the contact terminal may be anchored to the body of the USB, and manually operated in a slide type motion, so that the contact terminal can be stored within the body but exposed to the exterior when the USB is not used and can be extracted to the outside of the body when the USB is used.
As described above, the conventional USB has a construction in which the contact terminal of the USB is exposed to an external environment which in turn causes a damage from external impact and allows external foreign matters to easily ingress into the contact terminal. Further, since the conventional USB is not equipped with a shielding means for the contact terminal, foreign matters can be easily introduced to the contact terminal. As such, when the contact terminal is received in the body of the USB, the foreign matters interferes with the storage function as well as data transmission.